The Aryans were NOT a Blonde, Blue-Eyed Master Race

Aryans were Asian Steppe Nomads, not Nordic Warriors

“Far from being blonde-haired, blue-eyed, fair-skinned and homogenous, the “Aryans” were a dark-skinned nomadic Eurasian tribe who spread from Central Europe and Central Asia into Southern Asia, interbreeding with a variety of other peoples. Our knowledge of these “Aryans” is sketchy, and there’s still a lot to be determined about them, both through anthropological and archaeological research. But we can be quite sure that they bore no direct relation to the modern inhabitants of Germany and Scandinavia. And certainly they were no master race.” [1]

Modern Aryan (Brokpa)

“The Aryan/Indo “European”* only describes South Eastern “Europeans”, Persians, and people into the Northern part of India. They had a population expansion starting about 10,000 years ago, which spread the Indo-“European” languages all over. They only made up a minority of the ancestry in populations North of central [West Asia] “Europe”. Europeans do speak Indo-“European” languages, but most of us have a different genetic legacy. Ancient Mesolithic hunter-gatherer in the far North, and from the Western Atlantic coast people in England and the West of “Europe”.” [2]

Myth #1: The Aryans were blond-haired and blue-eyed

Finally, the Vedic texts reveal that the Indo-Aryans did in fact have black hair:

May thy hairs grow as reeds, may they cluster, black, about thy head! (Atharva Veda 6.137.2)Brahmins have strong black hair (Atharva Veda 6.137.3) Let him [the Brahmin Priest] kindle the sacrificial fire while his hair is still black. (Dharma-Sutra 1:2)

Modern Aryan

And in the Avesta we read:

O Zarathushtra! let not that spell be shown to any one, except by the father to his son, or by the brother to his brother from the same womb, or by the Athravan to his pupil in black hair, devoted to the good law, who, devoted to the good law, holy and brave, stills all the Drujes. (Khordha Avesta.Yashts.4.10)

Myth #2: Nordic people/Northwest Asians are Aryans

Modern Aryans

Day is correct in realizing that the skeletal remains of northern “Europe” cannot be reconciled with a steppe origin [13]. This clearly indicates that Indo-Europeanization of northern “Europe” was not carried out by steppe elements. And, the fair elements among the Celts, Germans and Balts are best sought in the indigenous “European” populations of northern “Europe” who probably developed a marked blondism on their own due to their geographical location. Moreover, the suggestion that the Indo-“European” urheimat included both northern”Europe” and the steppe is contradicted by linguistic concerns (see Mallory [7]) which make it highly probable that Proto-Indo-“European” developed in a relatively constrained (geographical) region.

Myth # 3: The Aryans Were Technologically Advanced Charioteers

If two populations A and B meet, then A may impose its language on B, if A has larger numbers, or superior technology/organization. Day seems to believe that the Proto-Indo-“Europeans”’ (Aryans’) advantage lay in their possession of horse-related technology. But, this argument fails if we examine the terrain, much of it unsuitable for wheeled vehicles that the Indo-“Europeans” supposedly conquered. In our days, technology (gunpowder and rifles) may be an ally to a numerically small people (e.g., the British) in dominating a large one (e.g., the Indians). As we move back to prehistory, the technological differential between peoples diminishes. It seems unlikely that any people could maintain rule of a numerically very superior people in e.g., the 3rd millennium BC. [3]

How “Aryan” Became Twisted by West Asian Scholars

“Aryan” = Noble or Nordic?

““Aryan” originates from the Sanskrit word arya or ariya, which can be observed in a variety of ancient texts, most notably the Vedas – the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature, dating to possibly as early as 1500 BC. It’s been interpreted as having a variety of different meanings – civilized, noble, superior or a person of higher consciousness. It was used as a term of self-designation by nomadic Indo-Iranian tribes of Indo-“European” descent in the prehistoric period. Indo-“European” refers to an enormous family of several hundred related languages and dialects, from which derive most major tongues spoken in “Europe”, the Iranian plateau and South Asia today. The Indo-Iranians were the easternmost sub-branch of this huge group. They inhabited parts of modern Iran, Afghanistan and India. The name Iran is in fact a modern cognate of “Aryan,” meaning “lands of the Aryans.” The Behistun Inscription – engraved high on the side of Mount Behistun in the Kermanshah Province of Iran – contains the oldest epigraphically-attested reference to an Iranian language. Dating to the 6th century BC, it describes itself as having been composed “in ariya” – i.e. in Iranian. (Learn more about the Behistun Inscription in this “face-off” vs. the Rosetta Stone). In 18th century west Asian theory, the Indo-Iranians somehow came to be considered as the forbears of the entire Indo-“European” language group. How did this happen? In short, West Asian scholars began making a number of wildly inaccurate assumptions, innocently in some cases, lazily in others, and with malice in others still. “Aryan” first entered the western lexicon in the 1700s and 1800s with the translation of the Vedas. At this point it was a harmless linguistic term for describing a certain cultural group. Its connection to an “Aryan race” wasn’t implicit. That shift occurred gradually throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, at the hands of Western, mainly European, academics. It was German Indo-“European”-ist scholar Friedrich Schlegel who set this line of reasoning in motion. Writing in 1808, he developed a theory linking arya to the German word ehre, meaning “honour.” He also connected it to early Germanic names containing the element ario, such as the Germanic warrior Ariovistus. Ariovistus was the heroic leader of an alliance of Germanic tribes who, in the 1st century BC, were defeated by Julius Caesar at the Battle of Vosges, as documented in Caesar’s Commentarii de Bello Gallico. ” [1]

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NOTES

* West Asia is the more accurate name for the region known as “Europe”. See “‘Europe’ = West Asia?” here.

Aryans are the descendants of Japheth.
And yes, there were blond, light-eyed race.
Not master, but warrior race. Aryan’s haplogroup is R1a1
and their long trek ended (and probably started) in Lechia (todays Poland and western Ukraine).

Haplogroup R was a descendant haplogroup of haplogroup K which was the proto-Asian/proto-Mongoloid haplogroup. The split of hapologroup IJK into IJ and K marks the divergence of Caucasian and Mongoloid people. Ultimately, several major haplogroups descended from Haplogroup K, namely: haplogroups M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, L, and T which are dominant in various East Eurasian, Oceanian, Amerind and Siberian populations. Haplogroup R is carried by various Siberian and Amerind male populations(78%-80%) at higher frequencies than any European male population(57%).
To illustrate the spread of Y-DNA haplogroups:

When haplogroup R carrying East Eurasian/proto-Siberian-Amerind men spread west, they came in contact with Caucasian peoples who carried signature haplogroup G, I or J with whom they mixed. It was a one-sided affair: Haplogroup R men conquered GHIJ populations and passed down haplogroup R to their sons who would go on to do the same. Thus, haplogroup R became the dominant haplogroup, replacing I and G.

The Mal’ta–Buret’ culture is an archaeological culture of the Upper Paleolithic (c. 24,000 to 15,000 BP) on the upper Angara River in the area west of Lake Baikal in the Irkutsk Oblast, Siberia, Russian Federation. The type sites are named for the villages of Mal’ta (Мальта), Usolsky District and Buret’ (Буреть), Bokhansky District (both in Irkutsk Oblast).

According to research published in 2013 and 2016 the Mal’ta people belonged to a now extinct population closely related to a population who contributed substantially to the genetic ancestry of Siberians, Native Americans and Bronze Age Yamnaya people.[1][2] The Mal’ta–Buret’ population were also found to be genetically close to modern-day Native Americans, Kets, Mansi, Nganasans and Yukaghirs.[3]

Mongoloid features had been originally acknowledged in the skeletal remains of a child found at the site of Mal’ta. Alexeev (1998, 323) in his later publication was more cautious, stating that this area was “inhabited by a population of Mongoloid appearance”.[4] Raghavan et al. (2014) and Fu et al. (2016) found that Mal’ta–Buret had brown eyes, dark hair and dark skin.[1][5]

Research published in 2016 suggests that a Mal’ta like people were important genetic contributors to Native Americans, Europeans, Central and South Asians, and minor contribution to East Eurasians.[8] Lazaridis et al (2016) notes “a cline of ANE ancestry across the east–west extent of Eurasia.”[8] Mal’ta had a type of R* y-dna that diverged before the hg R1 and R2 split and an unresolved clade of haplogroup U mtdna.[9] Between 14 and 38 percent of Native American ancestry may originate from gene flow from the Mal’ta Buret people, while the other geneflow in Native Americans appears to have an Eastern Eurasian origin.[1] Sequencing of another south-central Siberian (Afontova Gora-2) dating to approximately 17,000 years ago, revealed similar autosomal genetic signatures as Mal’ta boy-1, suggesting that the region was continuously occupied by humans throughout the Last Glacial Maximum.[1]
According to a 2016 study, it was found that the global maximum of ANE ancestry occurs in modern-day Kets, Mansi, Native Americans, Nganasans and Yukaghirs.[3] Additionally it has been reported in ancient Bronze-age-steppe Yamnaya and Afanasevo cultures.[2]
Genomic study also indicates that the Yamnaya migration from steppes introduced “Ancient North Eurasian” admixture into Europe.[2][3] “Ancient North Eurasian” genetic component is visible in tests of the Yamnaya people, which makes up 50% of their ancestry.[2][3] It is also reported in modern-day Europeans (5%-18% ANE admixture), but not of Europeans predating the Bronze Age.[2][3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamna_culture
The Yamna culture is identified with the late Proto-Indo-Europeans, and is the strongest candidate for the Urheimat (homeland) of the Proto-Indo-European language.
The people of the Yamnaya culture were the likely result of admixture between eastern European hunter-gatherers (via whom they also descend from the Mal’ta-Buret’ culture or other, closely related people) and a Near Eastern people,[2] with some research identifying the latter as hunter-gatherers from the Caucasus[3] or a related people also related to Chalcolithic people from what is now Iran.[4]
Had they ventured further west into the Middle East, they would have replaced much of haplogroup J which is the siganture haplogroup for most Middle Easterners.
Instead they invaded Europe.

The Corded Ware culture (German: Schnurkeramik; French: céramique cordée; Dutch: touwbekercultuur) comprises a broad Indo-European archaeological horizon of Europe between c. 2900 BC – circa 2350 BC, thus from the late Neolithic, through the Copper Age, and ending in the early Bronze Age.[2] Corded Ware culture encompassed a vast area, from the Rhine on the west to the Volga in the east, occupying parts of Northern Europe, Central Europe and Eastern Europe.[2]
The Corded Ware was genetically strongly related to the Yamnaya culture, suggesting that the Corded Ware culture originated from migrations from the Eurasiatic steppes.[3] The Corded Ware culture may have disseminated the Proto-Germanic and Proto-Balto-Slavic Indo-European languages. The Corded Ware Culture also shows genetic affinity with the later Sintashta culture, where the proto-Indo-Iranian language originated.[1]